As intrepid as Mulder and Scully are, their quest for the truth would have been impossible if they didn't have a few helpful allies. The most significant of these is their boss, F.B.I. Assistant Director Walter Skinner. Skinner is motivated as much by his sense of duty and justice as his loyalty to the two agents. He frequently clashed with the Cigarette Smoking Man over the course of the series, pointedly keeping a "No smoking" sign at his desk. He also sometimes put his career in jeopardy by siding with his agents against the wishes of his conspiratorial superiors. But as of the most recent movie, Skinner is still employed with the F.B.I.

Throughout the series, Mulder frequently partnered up with the Lone Gunmen. This trio (John Byers, Richard Langly, and Melvin Frohike) publish a newspaper called The Lone Gunmen that specializes in conspiracy theories. Because of their knowledge and skill in areas like computer hacking, these three played an important role in the ongoing battle with The Syndicate. The characters proved popular enough that they were spun out into the short-lived Lone Gunmen TV series.

They were finally killed in the Season 9 episode "Jump the Shark," where they sacrificed their lives to stop a bio-terrorist attack. That probably precludes them from appearing in Season 10, but on the other hand, it's not as if no one ever cheats death in this franchise.

Mulder also frequently enjoyed the benefit of a contact within the Syndicate's ranks. These contacts tend to be high-level officials who have grown resentful of the Syndicate's plans and are sympathetic to Mulder's cause. They also tend to wind up exposed and murdered by the Syndicate's agents. This group included code-name "Deep Throat" in Season 1, "X" in Seasons 2-4, and U.N. official Marita Covarrubias in later seasons. Various other Syndicate members often provided Mulder and Scully with vital aid and information, though usually only to further their own private agendas.

Finally, the X-Files ranks were expanded in the final two seasons. After Mulder disappeared (a plot point brought about by actor David Duchovny's waning interest in the series), Scully was joined by agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes. The core dynamic changed to reflect the new characters. By this point, Scully had seen enough of the world to no longer be quite so skeptical about the paranormal. Instead, ex-military man Doggett became the rational skeptic of the group, while Reyes was more open-minded and receptive to the sorts of outlandish theories Mulder was so infamous for.

But as with Scully before him, Doggett was eventually forced to accept the existence of aliens and Super-Soldiers after encountering a number of them in the flesh during their investigations. While Season 10 will return the focus to the core Mulder/Scully dynamic, it's probably a safe bet that Doggett and Reyes will appear in some form or another.

Similarly, two other FBI agents named Jeffrey Spender and Diana Fowley were temporarily put in charge of the X-Files when Mulder and Scully were forcibly reassigned in Season 6. Both also had ties to the Syndicate. Spender is the son of the Cigarette Smoking Man, a fact that didn't exactly endear him to Mulder. But the two eventually became allies and learned they were half-brothers.

Spender was shot in the face by his father and subjected to a series of gruesome experiments that left him permanently disfigured. Spender last appeared in the series finale, testifying on Mulder's behalf at a military tribunal. While Spender survived his ordeals and may or may not appear in Season 10, Fowley was killed at the end of Season 6 for aiding Scully.

The Current State of the X-Files

For X-Files fans, the only thing more frustrating the show's declining quality in the later seasons is the fact that it never provided a definitive conclusion to Mulder and Scully's quest for the truth and their fight against Colonization. The series finale opened with Mulder infiltrating a military base and finally learning the date of Colonization - December 22, 2012.

The Colonists have had their calendars marked for some time. As the Cigarette Smoking Man later informed Mulder, the ancient Mayans were so terrified of the coming invasion that they ended their calendar on the exact date.

Mulder's vision of a post-Colonization world.

Much of the finale centers around a military tribunal wherein Mulder is tried for the murder of a soldier named Knowle Rohrer. The truth is that Rohrer is a Super-Soldier and the military is framing Mulder in order to silence him once and for all. Though Mulder and his friends attempt to prove his innocence by laying out the full scope of the government conspiracy and their ties to the Colonists, Mulder is ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death.

He is freed by Skinner and Agents Scully, Doggett, and Reyes, but rather than flee the country, he elects to travel to New Mexico and confront the Cigarette Smoking Man one last time. CSM taunts his nemesis with the knowledge that Colonization is inevitable before finally dying in a missile strike. The final scene finds Mulder and Scully in hiding but maintaining their belief that the truth will ultimately be revealed.

The 2008 movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, is set after this finale, but it doesn't deal with the mythology storyline in any significant way. The movie sees Mulder still in seclusion while Scully resumes her career as a medical doctor. The two are called back into temporary duty when an FBI agent is kidnapped by a serial killer and a disgraced priest begins experiencing psychic visions about the crime. Mulder is promised a clean slate in exchange for his assistance. The culprits (a cartel of Russian organ harvesters) are brought to justice, but the movie offers no sign that Mulder and Scully will resume their old jobs as paranormal investigators.

Despite this, the Season 10 comic kicks off as the X-Files are reopened and Mulder and Scully return to duty. The setting is some indeterminate point between the events of I Want to Believe and the impending 2012 Colonization date. As mentioned, the series will offer a mixture of traditional "Monster of the Week" storylines and the continuation of the quest to halt Colonization and expose the conspirators.

The series will be reflective of the current political state of the world and the FBI, as well as the various technological advances since the days of the TV series. Thanks to the magic of GPS tracking, Scully may never have to start another phone conversation with the the phrase, "Mulder, where are you?"

We're not expecting the Colonization conflict to be immediately resolved in the comic. It may never be, as X-Files creator Chris Carter and several others are still optimistic that a third X-Files movie might happen some day. But even if Season 10 ultimately serves as a bridge between the latter two films, it should offer fans that trademark blend of intrigue, horror, and the unknown that have always defined The X-Files.